Gavage

The worst is not, so long as
We can say, This is the worst.
Therefore, this too could be worse,
Still and as always before,
Could be worse. Could be better
As well, although entropy
Discourages such thinking.

We have been force fed dying,
A vile cabbage slurry pumped
Into the esophagus,
And living was the black pipe
Jammed in the architecture
Of the face by which we fed
On our first food, which was air.